Dreams 8
A Winds of Change story
by: Lance Holloway
I stood there and watched the two things outside the cave come
over and look in. They didn't get too close to the vines though. After
looking in for a few moments, the one with the most fur began making some
noises and the other one held up a stick. I bellowed.
The stick made a noise and I felt something sting my side. I spun
around and didn't see anything. I scanned the cave and still nothing. I
could not find what hit me. I looked back at the two furry things. They
were just standing there watching me.
I bellowed and rammed the vines again. They still didn't give.
The furry things jumped back a step though. The ramming must have taken a
lot out of me because I then felt really tired. I lay down. The furry
things were still watching. I closed my eyes and drifted off into sleep.
-------------------
Something woke me up. I was lying on something uncomfortable. I
opened my eyes and saw I was still in the cage. I looked down at where I
was lying and saw the key. "Just great!" I thought. "I was supposed to
open the cages and the stegosaurus took over." I bent down and picked up
the key in my mouth. Luckily the keyhole was a normal keyhole with an
opening on both sides. With a little trial and error, I managed to get
the key in the hole. Opening the cage door was a lot harder using my mouth
than I thought. With a small turn, the lock clicked open.
I cracked the cage door open enough to poke my head out. I looked
around to make sure none of the goons were around and pushed the door
open. I lumbered out of my cage and looked into Scottie's. She was in
the back of her cage still tied up.
Hearing me, she looked up. "Lance, you're OK!" she said. "Hurry,
open the cage!"
I had to put my fore feet on the bars to reach the lock since the
cages were off the ground. I managed to get the key in and turned it. I
was getting good at this opening locks with my mouth. I pulled the door
open and climbed inside.
"Hurry, Lance," Scottie said.
I lumbered over to her as fast as I could and bit the ropes.
After a few tries, she was free.
"Now, let's get out of here," she said and darted out of the cage.
I followed as fast as I could.
The lights around the cages light up the immediate area. All the
cages could be seen from any spot within the circle. We headed off to the
nearest and largest opening between the cages. We didn't even have to try
to know that I wouldn't fit between the cages that were closer together.
The other dinosaurs were making their usual noises not suspecting
anything was wrong. I felt sorry for them, but we couldn't just let them
loose. Not with their minds being the minds of dinosaurs and not the
humans they once were.
Scottie stopped at a building that was near the edge of the circle
of cages. She looked around to make sure the coast was still clear. I
hoped I didn't make too much noise running around in this huge body, but
there wasn't anything I could do about that at the time. The mental
barrier was still nowhere to be found.
We seemed to be in the middle of a vast plain. Scottie continued
to scan the darkened land. I casually looked into a window that happened
to be in the wall we were next to. I was shocked. Inside the building
was an incubator. And inside the incubator was a various assortment of
dinosaur eggs. The lion was right. The dinosaurs laid eggs, but no one
has done that before. All the women gave birth to live HUMAN children.
Inside a small cage in the corner was a baby triceratops. "A BABY!?" I
thought to myself. "A baby DINOSAUR?" It must have come out as a grunt,
because Scottie turned her attention from our possible escape route to the
window.
She stood there looking at the baby and the eggs for a few
minutes. I could tell she was confused and angry. "How in the...?" she
started. "We have to tell someone about this." She ran out into the
darkness and I followed.
We were in the middle of nowhere. The only lights were circle of
cages that was getting farther away from us. Stopping every now and then
to make sure we weren't running off the edge of a cliff, we managed to get
several miles away from the cages. Then Scottie stopped. She pointed in
front of us. In the distance was what looked like a highway.
"Hurry!" Scottie spurt out as she took off running again. I
quickly followed.
We ran across the hard flat ground. Every step I took caused a
slight tremor. I could tell by the rustling of the patches of dry grass.
I just hoped it didn't help the lion locate us. When we reached the road,
no cars were in sight. "Just my luck," I thought. The road stretched
into the darkness in both directions.
"Now what?" Scottie asked. I managed a slight shrug and began
walking down the road in the direction away from the cages.
The road went on and on. No cars had come by yet, and no places
with people or telephones either. We were really out in the middle of
nowhere. Then a light came from behind us. I turned and saw a car
approaching. It slowed down as it neared us.
A mid-degree coyote stuck his out of window. "Need any help?" he
asked.
"Yes, we do," Scottie answered. "Do you have a car phone?"
"No, sorry. But, I can give you a lift to the next town. It's
about ten miles," he said. "But, I don't know if I can get the big fella
in here." He pointed at me. His car was a small two door model.
Scottie turned and walked to me. "Lance, we do need to get to a
phone and notify the police."
I nodded, of course.
"I can ride with him, and call. I'll meet you in town. OK?"
I nodded.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. He's two feet smaller than me. I'm
sure I can handle myself if he's trouble. When you reach town, I'm sure
I'll be able to find you. There's not that many stegosauruses stuck in
their norm form," said and tail grinned. She walked to the other side of
the car and opened the door. Before getting in she waved and said, "See
you in town." She crawled in and shut the door.
"Sorry, but there's not any room," the coyote said and drove off.
I could see Scottie waving before the car got too small to see.
I continued down the road. I would reach town eventually. What's
ten miles to a stegosaurus? I noticed another light behind me. I hoped
it was a semi. That's what it would take to drive me to town.
My luck turned out for the better. It *was* a semi truck. And it
was slowing down. I waited at the side of the road for it to stop. The
door opened and out stepped a lion morph.
"Hi, did you miss me?" he asked. It was the lion from the camp.
The elephant got out of the other side of the truck.
I started backing away from them and turned to run. However, I
didn't get very far. I felt like something was in my brain. I could feel
the stegosaurus mind trying to take over. I had to keep control. I
needed to escape. The tugging continued. I turned and saw the elephant
concentrating.
I concentrated on keeping my mind. That elephant wasn't going to
make me like those other poor people. I focused. I saw a large knob in
my head. One end of the label said, "Lance," and the other end said,
"Stegosaurus." The elephant was there trying to move it to the
Stegosaurus side. I rushed to the knob and tried to turn it back to my
side. "No you don't!" I said.
The elephant morph didn't say anything. He only grinned and
managed to move the knob closer to the stegosaurus side. I could feel the
dinosaur instincts beginning to kick in, but I continued trying to move
the knob back.
I managed to move it a notch, and he was able to move it back a
notch. Each toggle, I could feel different. Not, really different, but
just odd. I knew that the knob was changing the way I think, but I
couldn't tell. I just knew it was wrong somehow.
I was beginning to tire. He had moved the knob three notches from
where it was, and I wasn't able to regain that. He moved one notch for
everyone I moved. We were at another standstill. Then he vanished. The
knob swung all the way back to "Lance."
I began to notice the real world again and saw the lion and
elephant lying on the ground. The lion had a tranquilizer gun in his
hand. Probably waiting for the elephant to finish his job, then knock me
out.
I looked around to see why they were out cold. Then someone
walked around from the back of the truck holding another tranquilizer gun.
It was Scottie. She came back!
"Hi, Lance," she said holding the gun like she was born with it.
"I called the police, and hitched a rid back with the coyote." She
pointed to the car on the side of the road. The coyote guy was ducked
down and peeking out the window.
I tail grinned a "thank you." I think she understood it. Because
she said, "You're welcome." She motioned for the coyote to come out of
the car. He obliged and they tied up the elephant and the lion and threw
them in the back of the truck. I had to get in there with them.
Hopefully they didn't wake up soon.
Scottie, I assume, got in the cab of the truck and drove to town.
I could hear the car following us. Luckily, our prisoners didn't wake up
on the ten mile trip. The back of the semi opened and I walked out. The
police ran inside after I was out of the way and carried the two men out
and put them in a police car. They said their, "Good job"s to Scottie,
and drove off. Another police car stayed to carry Scottie to questioning.
I had to be questioned too, but I guess I had to walk, again.
I was right. I had to walk. Of course I was escorted by police
cars. One in front, and one behind. Along the way, I couldn't help
thinking about how I almost became a stegosaurus permanently. In mind
that is. I hoped that I could change back to my morphic form eventually.
But, losing my mind to prehistoric instincts frightened me. I searched
out that mental knob just to make sure it was still set on my side.
Then I noticed something. It was behind the knob. I didn't see
it earlier. I went closer to it and was surprised. It was the barrier!
The barrier that I had lost was right in front of me. I concentrated and
stepped through the barrier. I felt a sensation I haven't felt in a
while. Energy flowed through my body. I opened my eyes and saw that I
was on all fours, but my forelegs weren't legs. They were arms, and my
front feet were the claw-like hands that I missed so much.
I stood up and shouted for joy. "I'm me again!" I shouted. Of
course, I was always me, but I wasn't close enough to human for my tastes.
I ran around in the street. The police cars stopped.
"Sir, would you mind getting in the car?" one of them asked poking
his owl-like head out the car window.
"I don't mind at all," I said. It felt so good to talk again. I
got in the car and sat at an angle because of my plates.
We arrived at the station and I jumped out of the car as soon at
the police opened my door. I ran in and found Scottie. She looked up in
surprise. "Ta-dah," I said opening my arms as if to present myself.
"Lance?"
"Yep. I finally found that barrier!"
She stood up knocking the chair she was sitting in backwards and
ran over to me. She gave me a big hug, and I gave one back. She let go
and said, "Let's tell them what we know."
------------------------------------
"Thank you," the cat police chief said. He stood up from behind
his desk and filed the papers away. "We will begin a man hunt for the ape
that was after the raptor at that humane society near Grand Junction."
"Thank you," I said. "At least we know that operation is going to
be stopped."
"I just feel sorry for all those people," Scottie said. "They've
lost their humanity forever."
"I understand, Miss Harris," the chief said. "I assure you that
the leading experts on this type of mental recession are working on it."
"Thank you," she said and walked out of his office.
I shook his hand and followed her. A cab was waiting for us to
take us back to LA. prepaid by the police department. If only it was a
limo. Scottie was already in the car. I climbed in and noticed that the
seats were adjustable, even for our plates. I situated my seat and
relaxed. It was going to be a long but comfortable ride.
--------------------------------------------
I stood from the table as the last meeting with the founders
concluded. "I can't say how much I appreciate this," I said.
"You're welcome, Lance," David said. "I'm relieved that you and
Scottie managed to survive that encounter."
I tail grinned. "I am too. However, there is one still loose.
He was headed to Grand Junction for a raptor there."
"Grand Junction! Raptor!? Excuse me," David said and left the
room.
I watched as he ran out. "Was it something I said?"
Bruno walked up and put his arm on my shoulder. "Dave's father is
at Grand Junction. He's currently stuck as a raptor. Mentally."
I almost choked. "I... I didn't know."
"It's not your fault," Eos said. "I'm sure he's glad you told
him."
The others nodded in agreement.
Charlie looked at his watch. "Well, you better hurry. You're
going to miss your flight."
I looked at the time. I had about two hours, but I wanted to be
on time. "You're right. It would be a long walk to Arkansas."
We chuckled as we left the room. They escorted me to my taxi, and
waved as it drove off. Scottie wasn't around. Her flight was earlier
that day. I only had a small chance to say good bye before I was carted
off to the meeting. She had strongly stated that she wanted to be in my
Meso Club chapter. I was delighted. Although I had no idea how many
meetings she would attend since she would be on the other side of the
state. However, I felt like the rest of the year would be a huge
adventure.
The End.